PHOENIX — A suspect has been taken into custody after a barricade situation at a business near 75th Avenue and Buckeye Road Monday morning.
Video from the scene showed nearly a dozen police vehicles surrounding Kem Krest. Two of the patrol cars were parked against the building as crime tape and a K9 were at the scene.
Police say they were dispatched to the area after someone reported a stabbing inside the business.
Witnesses reportedly told police the man responsible for the stabbing was still in the business and police evacuated the building.
Police say the victim was stabbed and sliced multiple times and has been taken to a hospital for treatment.
After several hours the suspect was removed from the building and taken into custody. His identity hasn’t been released.
A motive for the stabbing remains under investigation.
BARRICADED SUSPECT: We are at Kem Krest (according to people who work inside). One worker told me he was in the back and heard a commotion and then a scream. Police say one man was stabbed inside the business. We’re told the suspect is still inside now. @abc15 pic.twitter.com/4HcOnuTmZn
— Ashley Holden (@ashleyvholden) October 17, 2022
“I just heard like tables moving and somebody screaming in the background,” said Kem Krest employee Ralph Rocha.
Rocha told ABC15 he had just started his shift around 7:45 a.m. when he heard those screams.
“By the time I was up there they had already isolated him in the office,” said Rocha.
He said he and the other employees inside were told to leave.
Rocha told ABC15 the victim was his manager, and the suspect was a man he knew as a fellow employee. He described the suspect as typically quiet.
Rocha said he saw his manager outside the building.
“I saw him out from he was bleeding pretty bad, but we don’t know the extent of his injuries,” said Rocha.
Police told ABC15 they couldn’t confirm the two men’s roles at the company, but they could say something had happened just before the stabbing.
“I know there was some type of confrontation they had before with individual before the stabbing occurred,” said Sgt. Phil
After the stabbing, an hours-long stand-off brought out police, SWAT, and members of the Crisis Intervention Team.
“He said he didn’t want to come out alive,” said Sgt. Phil
Police said less lethal force was used and eventually the suspect as led out in handcuffs.
Officers told ABC15 where the suspect go the weapons used and if he had a role at the company is under investigation.
Kem Krest, an auto accessory wholesaler, has it’s headquarters in the Midwest.
Monday, staff said they could confirm the victim was an employee and executive leadership was on their way to the Valley.
